Continuously Variable Talk

In a mechanistic world peopled by drunk Greek philosophers, lab coat-wearing engineers and cover-all-suited grease monkeys alike, nothing captures the concept of a machine more graphically than a piece of gear. The wheel may represent movement, but it is the gear — or a combination of gears, to be precise — that transmits the energy from the power source and delivers it to the wheels, hence making locomotion possible. Think about it: Take away the gears from a bicycle and all you got is a tall Razor scooter you can sit on.

So now we talk of "shifting gears", "getting into high gear", or "in top gear". Or refer to a "cog in the machine". Question is, without gears does it remain a machine? What to make of CVT-equipped cars then?

Honda’s latest entry-level baby, the City, is one such car that offers this feature called the CVT, or Continuously Variable Transmission. While CVT did not exist during the time of drunk Greek philosophers, it has been around for quite some time now, having reportedly been invented by Dutch firm Van Doorne decades ago. Incidentally, Honda tapped Van Doorne when it was developing its own take on CVT.

The early versions of CVT weren’t practical nor reliable, incapable of being matched with engines that has high horsepower or torque ratings. Worse, reviews of CVT-eqipped production vehicles from as recent as five years back weren’t favorable, the critics were unanimous in saying that it reminded them too much of a slipping clutch. If you drive with a conventional manual transmission, you’d know how irksome that can be. But with current advances in gee-whiz computerized engine management wizardry, CVTs, like those on the City, are proving to be feasible alternative transmission systems.

But what exactly is a CVT?

As its name suggests — or chances are, not — a CVT has no fixed gear ratios, as it is capable of infinetely varying its ratio as required. That’s because a CVT does not have gears at all, unlike what can be found inside conventional (automatics included) transmissions should you have the inexplicable urge to open one up. Instead, what you find inside a CVT are two conical pulleys lying side by side, the fat end of one cone directly opposite the narrow end of the other cone. One of these cones is then attached to the engine while the other is connected to the vehicle’s driveline, or that gizmo system that puts power to the wheels. A belt connects the two cones, sliding across both ends of the two. Its "gear ratio" then is determined by the position of the belt relative to which part of the cones it’s in. So it’s effective ratio is truly infinite. Pretty nifty, and justifies its name which may initially come across as SanrioThe-happy-sun-makes-pebbles-in-the-sea cryptic.

Driving a CVT car like the City feels like driving a regular automatic slushbox. Almost. The CVT still exhibits some peculiar characteristics uniquely its own. Start from rest at a sharp incline, and the first half-inch or so of gas pedal travel produces nothing but engine noise. The dreaded slipping-clutch feel, that’s what it is. On the move, though, there is nothing truly noticeable, save for the fact that the "gearshifts" are as smooth as those found on pricey Euro marques or upscale Jap sedans. No shift-shock at all, or that jerky "thug-blag" thing when the transmission shifts gears. Well, duh, CVT does not have gears.

However, it still feels far from driving an electric golf cart or an arcade bump car. You can still hear the engine revs go up and down its range while the CVT belt shifts its position from parts of the cones to another. It even holds its "gear" when needed, creating a respectable amount of engine braking, which is especially useful when driving downhill. And the aforementioned engine computer management wizardry also allows you to stick around the engine’s effective power band up to its redline before it "shifts", thereby saving the engine from scattering its entrails across EDSA.

The CVT City even has that nifty steering wheel-mounted "gearshift" buttons, where you can manually row through seven preset "gears" and pretend you’re Jacques Villeneuve without the thinning hair — or even with the thinning hair. Completely up to you.

Honda is not the first to introduce CVT to production models, nor is it even the first to offer it locally. Mitsubishi’s latest generation Lancer was available with CVT since its introduction, which preceeded the Honda City by months. Also, some scooters have been CVT-equipped long before cars were.

By offering CVT on entry-level cars, manufacturers are proving that this technology, with its supposed benefits on fuel consumption and efficiency, are quite practical and indicates it may soon mean more vehicles in the future will offer CVTs. It’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s more like reinventing the machine.